Founder
Charles Waller, Founder of Advance Staffing
He has spent his working life on one problem: the distance between a Memphis employer who cannot fill a shift and a Memphis resident who cannot find steady work. Advance Staffing exists to close it.
Why he does this
Not a body count. A match.
Ask Charles Waller why he is still in staffing after more than twenty years and he does not talk about revenue.
I do it for the love of the business. My main purpose is to help people find employment, and help companies find good employees.
That sounds soft until you watch how it operates. He does not treat a placement as finished when the person clocks in. He calls them. He tells them to communicate with the supervisor when something comes up, to go to the doctor's appointment and come back after, to let the employer see that they want the job. He is coaching attendance, because attendance is what decides whether somebody keeps a paycheck.
I'm just not sending them people. I try to make it a good match.
For an employer, that is the difference between a staffing vendor and a staffing partner. Anyone can fill a requisition once. Filling it with someone who is still there in ninety days is a different business.
At a glance
| Role | Founder and Chief Executive Officer |
|---|---|
| Founded Advance Staffing | January 2020 |
| Industry experience | More than two decades in Memphis staffing |
| Military service | United States military, honorably discharged |
| Based | Bartlett, Tennessee |
| Focus | Warehouse, light industrial, manufacturing, and office staffing |
Advance Staffing is veteran-led and minority-owned, and holds NMSDC Minority Business Enterprise certification. An SDVOSB application is pending with the U.S. Small Business Administration and is not represented as certified. See certifications and contracting information.
The work behind the company
Twenty years of putting Memphis to work
Advance Staffing is not his first agency. It is the one built on everything the earlier ones taught him.
2004
Enters agency ownership in Memphis and begins placing light industrial and warehouse workers across the metro.
2007
Founds Evolution Staffing in Memphis and builds a transportation operation alongside it, running vans so that no worker loses a shift over a missed bus or bad weather.
Through the 2010s
Partners with Memphis community organizations and churches on an apprenticeship program placing people leaving gang involvement into documented, paid work.
2020
Founds Advance Staffing Inc. in Bartlett. The name came from his nephew, who put one idea behind it: moving forward.
2026
MBE certification approved. SAM registration active. Federal, state, county, and corporate supplier diversity work underway.
Next
Relaunching managed worker transportation and building a financial readiness program for associates.
Second chance employment
He has hired the people nobody else would interview
Years before second chance hiring had a name in corporate policy, Charles Waller was doing it in Memphis. Working alongside community organizations and churches, he built an apprenticeship program for men leaving gang involvement and put them into real, documented, paid work.
Not a training certificate. Not a workshop. A job, with a supervisor, a timecard, and a reference at the end of it.
I was just helping them get into society, get to be productive in society. I would counsel them and talk to them and encourage them how to go to work and how to be there every day, and to build on their life.
That experience is why Advance Staffing screens the way it does. Every client's documented requirements govern who goes on an assignment, without exception. What Mr. Waller brings is the judgment to see who is ready, and the willingness to stay on the phone with somebody until they are.
For employers, this is a workforce pipeline most agencies cannot reach. For the people in it, it is the difference between a record and a resume.
What comes next
Getting people to work, and keeping them there
Managed worker transportation
Transportation is the single most common reason a light industrial worker misses a shift in Memphis. Mr. Waller has run this before, at scale, and watched it eliminate the excuse entirely.
Them people weren't short. We had people. People had no reason for not getting to work. It was too cold, it was raining. We had all that covered.
Advance Staffing is rebuilding that capability with scheduled pickup and drop-off points serving industrial corridors. For a plant manager, attendance is the number that decides whether a line runs.
Financial readiness for associates
His conviction, stated plainly: a worker fighting bad credit and operating without a bank account is carrying a weight that shows up at work.
Believe it or not, bad credit is low self-esteem for a lot of people. If people can learn how to fix their credit and manage their credit, that right there is going to be an uplift.
The plan is a financial readiness program for Advance Staffing associates covering banking, credit, and money management, so that a temporary assignment becomes the start of something rather than the whole of it.
Mission, vision and values
What Advance Staffing is for
Mission
Connect Memphis employers with dependable people, and connect people who need work with employers who will keep them. Prepare them, place them, and stay involved after the start date.
Vision
A Memphis where anyone willing to work can find steady work, and where every plant, warehouse and data center in this city can build a full, reliable shift out of local talent.
Core values
Moving in the right direction
The name is the standard. Every placement should move the worker and the client forward from where they started.
Not just bodies
A resume that matches on paper is not a match. We place people we would vouch for, and we tell a client when we cannot cover an order.
Show up and speak up
Attendance and communication are what keep a job. We coach both, before the first shift and after it.
A fair shot
Circumstances are not character. We evaluate people against the client's requirements and give a real look to those who have not had one.
Build the person
A paycheck is the beginning. Readiness, stability and financial footing are what make it last.
Answer the phone
Staffing is an urgency business. The agency that responds first is the one that solves the problem.
Work with Advance Staffing
Whether you are filling a shift or looking for one, the conversation starts the same way: a phone call with someone who will tell you the truth about what is possible.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Advance Staffing?
Charles Waller founded Advance Staffing Inc. in January 2020 in Bartlett, Tennessee. He is the company's Chief Executive Officer and has worked in the Memphis staffing industry for more than two decades.
Is Advance Staffing veteran owned?
Charles Waller served in the United States military and was honorably discharged. Advance Staffing is veteran-led and minority-owned. The company holds NMSDC Minority Business Enterprise certification. A Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business application is pending determination with the U.S. Small Business Administration and is not represented as certified.
What does the name Advance Staffing mean?
The name came from Mr. Waller's nephew, who suggested it with a single idea behind it: moving forward. It became the company's guiding phrase, Moving In The Right Direction.
Does Advance Staffing hire people with a difficult work history?
Advance Staffing evaluates candidates against each client's documented requirements. Mr. Waller has spent much of his career in second chance employment, helping people returning from difficult circumstances build a documented work record. Client requirements always govern who is placed on an assignment.
Where is Charles Waller based?
Advance Staffing operates from Bartlett, Tennessee, serving Memphis and the surrounding Shelby County area.